


Caduceus Takes a Nap

by SeveralSmallHedgehogs



Series: Soft Mighty Nein [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Just really soft m9, Mighty Nein as Family, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-10 14:57:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20853662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SeveralSmallHedgehogs/pseuds/SeveralSmallHedgehogs
Summary: Caduceus wanders around the Xorhouse looking for someplace to take an afternoon nap.





	Caduceus Takes a Nap

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this a little while ago when I couldn't sleep

Caduceus hadn’t gotten to take a lot of naps lately, between the teleporting and the running and the fighting and the getting banned from places. It was all sort of exhausting, really, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.

Now the Nein had returned to the Xorhouse to lick their wounds. He’d had some time to putter around making tea, tending to the rooftop garden, and just generally moving at a much slower pace than he’d grown accustomed to with this group. It was nice to be back to his old schedule of no real schedule and nothing in particular that he needed to do.

He wasn’t clear on what time it was, what with the noonday darkness and everything, but Caduceus’s eyelids were heavy and it seemed to be about time for a nap. His room was nice, even with the stone walls and cold floor. But Nott was working on some alchemy things in her lab next door, and the strange smells permeated the walls. One minute it was herbal, and Caduceus didn’t mind that so much, but the next it was sour and the next it was metallic, and the abrupt changes were threatening to give him a headache. So, Caduceus set about finding somewhere else.

His first thought was to try the roof. There was a whole garden up there, after all, and the lights in the tree weren’t so bright they’d keep him from falling asleep. The sounds of the city were a little muffled when he was that high up, too, and he’d gotten used to the solid noise that came with lots and lots of people. He could sleep through it just like he could sleep through the dense calls and chirps that had always come from the Savalierwood at night. Even better, the cool night (night?) air would be good for sleeping, and maybe he’d be able to lean back against the tree trunk and catch a breeze.

But as he emerged onto the roof, he spotted Jester sitting against the tree with her sketchbook on her knees. She had her hair pulled back out of her face, and she had her nose scrunched up and her tongue poking out one side of her mouth.

When she finally spotted him, she straightened up and brightened. “Hello, Caduceus!”

He smiled. “Hello, Jester. Nice night, isn’t it?”

“Caleb said it was one o’clock in the afternoon, like, twenty minutes ago, but it is sort of a nice night, isn’t it? I mean, it’s always nighttime here, so if it’s nice, then it would have to be a nice night, wouldn’t it?” She looked back down at her sketchbook and scribbled something, sticking her elbow out to the side. Caduceus just stood at the top of the stairs, looking around. It would be rude to leave right away, wouldn’t it? He didn’t want to be rude. Jester was very sweet and he loved her dearly, but she was pretty talkative. It didn’t seem likely that he’d get much sleep with her there.

But he couldn’t think of anything to talk to her about, really. For a moment, the only sound on the rooftop was from the people in the streets below, and the quiet scratching of Jester’s pencil on the paper.

Soon Jester realized Caduceus hadn’t moved, and she stopped sketching and looked up. “Do you need something, Caduceus?”

"No,” he told her. “Just… wandering around, I guess.” He offered another smile, waved goodbye, and headed back downstairs. Where else could he go…?

As he wandered the house, he passed the dining-room-turned-training-room. The door was open, and inside, Beau and Fjord were sparring. Beau used her staff and Fjord used a piece of wood roughly the size and shape of Star Razor. Each time their weapons met, there was a _crack _that made Caduceus’s arms ache just to hear it. Fjord seemed to be getting faster. Then again, sparring with Beau, he didn’t have much of a choice if he didn’t want to leave every sparring session aching in every limb.

Fjord noticed him in the doorway first. Beau took advantage of the distraction and swept his feet out from under him. Fjord yelped, and he would have toppled over if Beau hadn’t popped back upright and grabbed the front of his armor to stop him. She hauled him back onto his feet. “Hey, Caduceus,” she said as Fjord caught his breath. She seemed to be barely sweating, but Fjord’s hair was sticking to his forehead.

“Hello, Beau. Hello, Fjord. Just stopping by.”

Fjord nodded and wiped his hand across his forehead. “Run that by me again,” he told Beau.

“All right.” Beau rolled her shoulders and got into a fighting stance with her staff. As they went at it again, Caduceus moved on.

Yasha’s room was an option. He made his way back into that part of the house and opened the door. The room was dark, but he could still make out the mural that Jester had painted for her. A field of flowers, all different colors, so bright and lifelike it seemed like they should have been bobbing in the breeze. It was really a nice mural. Jester had outdone herself.

But… it felt wrong to be in here. There were no traces of Yasha. She hadn’t left anything behind at all, as if she’d known she wasn’t coming back. It reminded him too much of the empty rooms at the Blooming Grove.

Caduceus stepped back into the hallway, shut the door, and sighed. He was nearly out of options…

The library, he thought. It was always quiet in the library, and while old books and dust weren’t his _favorite _smell, they were still a pretty nice combination. Besides, there were some pretty comfortable chairs in that room. And even if Caleb was in there, Caleb was usually quiet. That was a nice thing about Caleb. He appreciated quiet.

He headed down the stairs and quietly opened the door to the library. There weren’t many books in it yet; Caleb hadn’t had time to build up much of a collection. But he was sitting in one of the chairs with a book in his hands, and Frumpkin in his lap. Instead of lighting a candle, he had opted to put his floating lights out around the room.

Caleb looked up when the door opened. “Caduceus,” he said, closing the book partway. “Were you looking for me?”

“No, just looking for someplace quiet.” Caduceus smiled. “Mind if I sit in here?”

“Go ahead.”

Caduceus made his way over to the only other chair in the room—a rather worn-out red armchair that was built to be big for humans, so it was about the right size for Caduceus. He sat back, folded his hands over his stomach, and closed his eyes.

“Are you going to go to sleep?” Caleb asked.

He opened one eye. “That was the plan.”

“Oh. All right. I will try to be quiet.” Caleb looked back down at his book and scratched absently under Frumpkin’s chin. Frumpkin tilted his head up and purred.

Caduceus closed his eyes again, shifted until he got comfortable, and settled in for the afternoon.


End file.
